At age 42, Paul Nimbley was a twenty-year veteran of Cantor Fitzgerald and a Vice-President with the company and was already at work in his office on the 100th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center when it was struck by one of the hijacked airliners on September 11, 2001.
He lived in Middletown Township, New Jersey with his wife, Isabel, his four daughters, ages eight through fifteen, and the couple's eight-month-old son. He was an unqualified success in a hyper competitive industry who, according to those who knew him well, never tried to "bigfoot" anyone. He was well-liked and well-respected. He was neither loathed nor feared.
He volunteered time to coach a local girls' basketball team, the Hot Shots. Shortly before he died, he bought a Ford Expedition. The reason? Isabel said he needed a car big enough to carry all "his kids", which she knew meant their five and his team of lady hoopsters.
On what tragically proved to be the final Father's Day he would ever spend with them, Mr. Nimbley, his daughters, and their teammates were at Madison Square Garden to watch a New York Liberty game - and to play a scrimmage on the Garden court. He was quoted in a Star-Ledger article as saying, "I'm going to do whatever my daughters enjoy because I love spending time with them." As the basketball coach he was, he knew and appreciated the importance of time.
He simply had no way of knowing just how little of it he had. May it be of some solace to those he loved and to those he loved most of all that he made such wonderful use of all that he was given.
-AK
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